Various types of bulk materials are shipped, stored, and otherwise processed and distributed in the form of compressed bales. For example, such items as recyclable paper products and cotton are processed into compressed bales so that they may be more easily handled. Baling also allows a greater amount of such products to be stored and shipped in a smaller space than would be possible with loose bulk material. As is appreciated, bales are also substantially easier to handle than the loose bulk material.
It is generally known to wrap such bales of compressible material with wire or other elongated binding devices to keep the bales in a compressed form, such as for shipping, handling, and storage. Wire is often most preferable as a binding material because of its low cost and the ease with which it is handled. To bind a bale, the wire is wrapped in strands around the bale. The ends of the wire strands are then twisted and tied around the bales after the strands are wrapped and positioned on the bale.
One notable method for tying a bale is referred to as the automatic tie method or auto-tie method in which a bundle of loose, compressible material is pressed into a bale by a ram and moved by the ram through the baler. A plurality of continuous wire strands extend across the bale path at different positions along the bale and are fed by supply rollers positioned on either side of the bale path. As the bale moves through the baler, the bale is forced against the wires and the wires are wrapped around the bale. At a predetermined position along the bale path, a twisting mechanism engages sections of wire wrapped around the bales and twists the respective sections together. One side of the wire twist forms a completed tie or wrap around the bale, while the other side of the twist again reforms a continuous strand of baling wire between the supply rolls along the bale path. Examples of various auto-tie methods are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,120,238; 4,155,296; 4,167,902; 4,459,904 and 5,704,283.
While such methods have generally proven somewhat suitable for baling and tying compressed bales, currently available methods have several drawbacks which reduce the efficiency of the baling process and further reduce the strength of the wire ties or wraps. For example, existing methods and apparatuses require complicated mechanisms which must manipulate and twist the various wire ends to tie the bale and retie the loose ends from the supply rolls into continuous wire strands to engage a subsequent bale. Such mechanisms require synchronization and precise movements to twist and tie one set of loose ends, such as around the bale, and then to tie another set of loose wire ends, such as to complete and reform the continuous strands of baling wire. The two-step tying process is inefficient and slows down bale production.
Another drawback to existing methods and apparatuses is that the complicated and expensive systems used to make the wire twists in automatic balers are expensive to manufacture and maintain.
Therefore, it is an objective of the present invention to bind and tie a bale of compressible material quickly and efficiently within an automatic baler system.
It is another objective to reduce the manufacturing and maintenance costs associated with prior art twisting and tying mechanisms used in automatic balers.
It is another objective to be able to tie successive bales while maintaining a continuous strand of baling wire to engage a subsequent bale to the one currently tied.